Feminist Icon Powter Bringing Her Bold Message To White Salmon

One-woman show comes to white Salmon on Dec. 16

Susan Powter -- "a one woman show with a life-changing message" -- is bringÿing her motivational observaÿtions to White Salmon on Dec. 16.

Powter, who lives in the Seattle area, is on tour to proÿmote her latest book, The Poliÿtics of Stupid. Although she normally visits big cities, she said she now has the freedom to tour wherever she wants to.

"I self-published this book, so I can get out of the limos and away from the airports and can plan my own tour and go where I want to go," Powÿter said. "I do a lot of large venues, but I also have the freedom to go where I want."

Powter, the self-described "housewife who figured it out," has been a champion for women's issues for years. She said the topic of her White Salmon talk would be wide-ranging and pointed.

"I'll be talking politics and religion right off the bat," Powter said.

Powter's visit to White Salÿmon came via a personal inÿvitation from Michelle Hoffÿman, a Mill A woman who met Powter at the "Northwest Women's Show" in Portland.

"She was a speaker there. She has usually been a headÿ

liner there over the last few years," Hoffman said. "I hapÿpened to meet her, and was pretty impressed and wonÿdered if she'd come out here. We sent a few e-mails back and forth, and she thought it would be a good idea to come someplace she hadn't been beÿfore."

Hoffman said she was a bit surprised Powter wanted to come to a small town.

"What's amazing is, she's doing this for free," Hoffman explained. "Usually she does huge events. She has a pretty big following, but she was fine with getting a small amount of folks together."

Of all the books she's done -- including the No. 1 best-seller, Stop the Insanity, Powter said she is most proud of The Politics of Stupid. She characterÿized it as "the best weight-loss book ever written."

"It's real strong -- its mesÿsage is the Lenny Bruce of fitness," she joked.

Powter said there is a reason the United States is facing a number of serious health probÿlems.

"Obesity is an epidemic, and we're second in the world in the rate of heart disease," she pointed out. "And why is canÿcer an epidemic here?"

She blasted the corporate food industry for its role in

promoting unhealthy patterns.

"What you eat certainly afÿfects what you feel and how you look," Powter explained. "It's not OK what's going on out there."

Powter stressed that women account for approximately 85 percent of the food-shopping in the U.S. marketplace.

"Who is it you see in the supermarkets buying grocerÿies? Women [in effect] are the CEOs of a $276 billion inÿdustry," she said. "We could bring them [the food industry] to their knees -- they just don't know it yet."

However, Powter said oxygen is more important than food.

"The most vital ingredient in wellness is not food or liquid, it's oxygen. To test that," she said, "try holding your breath for five minutes."

Powter singled out the patriÿarchal system most of the world operates under as one of the most sinister forces citizens must overcome.

"The patriarchal system has continued in the same vein for the last 5,000 years: conquer, kill, murder, rape, own, conÿtrol," she said. "Look at the way it was before, when patriÿarchy didn't rule: It was about the Earth and her systems. We are connected with her. If women stopped cleaning up

the messes of patriarchy, the system couldn't survive."

Powter said the political system running the country is representative of the larger problems.

"You cannot dismantle the master's house with the masÿter's tools," Powter noted. "Or, as Emma Goldman said: `If voting changed anything, they would have made it illegal.'"

Hoffman praised Powter's message.

"She has really helped a lot of people with fitness," Hoffÿman said. "Her message is really positive. It's more about lifestyle change and choice as opposed to a quick fix or going on a diet. It's about changing how you think."

Powter will be at the White Salmon Community Library to share her message and sign books on Monday, Dec. 16, beginning at 7 p.m.

The event is free to the public.

"If you want to know how to change the world, come on the 16th," Powter said. "We can change communities, the country, and this world. This is Earth wellness. This is womÿen's wellness. This is wellness for everyone."